I've played WoW and their maintenance is not 30 seconds. There are hotfixes that they can apply instantly and some they can't. It just depends on what the problem is. Also, some of FFXIV's most recent maintenance have been only 3 hours long with a patch, so yes, it does not take 4 hours to do a backup. I also included QA testing and applying patch to the server as being included in the maintenance because they do take time.
FYI, I work on a software company's installer and know my stuff.
